Monday, October 31, 2011

This film has been a long time in the making and damn if this isn't some sit back and have a drink kind of viewing. Dig in and watch some poetry in motion as this has plenty of soul to go around. Huge congrats to all involved, the filming is fantastic and Chuck Ragan's music fits the mood perfectly.

"For the last two years I have been taking still photographs for a personal project entitled 'It's Better In The Wind,' all the while collecting video footage from each ride as we traveled around the Western United States together.
I have been slowly editing the footage into a visual scrapbook of sorts for those who partook, and those who followed us via the web. No preaching the triumphs and failures of the motorcycle industry, no divisive commentary between manufacturers and styles...just a collection of imagery that will hopefully inspire more people to take to the road and discover what there is outside of our respective communities.
Chuck Ragan was kind enough to collaborate with me to write an original soundtrack for the film, to give me some anthemic tunes to edit with, and I can't thank him enough for the kind gesture towards a fellow traveler.
Please, enjoy the film, everybody who took part in it is family, we are all grateful for your support these past two years while we tried to build a concept around the positive nature of motorcycling." - Scott Toepfer

Cameras Used: Canon 5dMkII, Minolta Super 8mm

Edited With: Final Cut Express
Film

Processed by: Pro 8mm in Burbank, CA

Music Written, Recorded, and Produced by: Chuck Ragan (chuckraganmusic.com)

A post over at TrueCultHeavyMetal.com caught our attention this morning and that being the one and only Lamb Of God's announcement of their new album. These guys bring the thunder like no other and their tight ensemble harkens back to the amazing shows once displayed by Pantera. Will be interested to see the growth in their sound or will they continue to tread similar waters. Metal doesn't like to be pigeon holed and many folks enjoy their mix of medleys to be consistent, but with a talent such as Lamb of God, would be stoked to see just how far they can push their boundaries and yet still remain on point.

"Pure American metallers Lamb Of God have announced their new album, including the tracklisting and the album art.
Their sixth full lenth under the Lamb Of God moniker was produced by Josh Wilbur (who produced previous album 'Wrath') and will be released on January 24 via Roadrunner records.
Entitled 'Resolution', the album consists of 14 tracks, and was described to Terrorizer by bass player John Campbell as their "smartest" album to date.
"Every single time you read a band talking about having a new record come out, of course they're going to say it's the greatest thing they've ever done," says John. "But I think our body of work, if you look at it from 'Burn The Priest' on, every record is truly a progression. I think we've got a lot better at what we do, and I feel this record falls right into line with that. We've really topped ourselves, it's making some new waves, and it's my favourite and the best sounding record that we have to date."
And while he describes the album as being sonically closest to 'Wrath' out of all their records, there are some new tricks in the bag.

"There's one song on there that has some string arrangements and there's
another vocalist involved in a song – not a guest appearance, we don't
have Glen Danzig showing up on our record – but one song has a string
arrangement and operatic vocals."
Given how brilliant 'Wrath' was, we're beyond excited for this new
record. January 24 cannot come soon enough."He says: in the bag. He says:

One of the latest builds from Herm and Jason over at Dime City Cycles has been getting quite a bit of press whether it be on Cafe Racer TV, BikeExif.com or a few other places. The bike deserves to be seen and we know why its popular, it looks good and stands apart from the pack. Those guys at Dime City are solid individuals and we are glad to see them doing well on their projects as they deserve the accolades due to their work ethic and honest approach.

"As featured in Velocity’s Season 2 of Cafe Racer TV the Dime City “Four Hundred” our desire with building the four hundred was to not only resurrect another long since forgotten pile of rusted motorcycle parts, but to pay homage to the gods of speed. Throughout the entire build process it was our intention to craft a machine that not only performed well on the track, but one that looked the part and was dripping with simple vintage hues.

We started out with a horrid mess of a bike, a forgotten junker that had a wooden dowel for an axle, mismatched wheels and a cardboard engine made from a Michelob Ultra 12 pack case. Like all projects though at Dime City, we look for the worst off machines as they have the least amount of chance in being picked up by someone and rebuilt given a second chance at life.

The build began with tearing what was left off of the bike discard the trash and items that were not usable and salvaging what could be. Items like the frame, hubs, triple trees and other main components were set aside for refurbishing while ancillary items like the bars, rusted fuel tank and cardboard engine were toss in favor of new hand-built items that would speak to the nature of speed we were aiming to achieve.

Our first step was rebuilding the frame and swing-arm so that they would withstand the rigors put forth by the massively over-built engine that would nestle between the rails. We removed the top center section of pressed and stamped steal and TIG welded and grafted in a new section 1.5″ chromoly tubing. When then used small elbow sections from old chromoly handlebars we had laying around the shop to gusset the mid and rear sections of the frame with a the final piece being a fully gusseted swing-arm limiting the flex the four hundred would have in the tight corners while the Bostrom Brothers tested her at Little Talladega Speedway for Season 2 of Cafe Racer TV.

After the frame modifications were complete we moved on to fitting the vintage replica Ducati race tank and fairing along with building one of our signature “Wasp” rear tail-sections complete with our closed-loop rear section of the frame where we use our tube bender with a custom die to make a perfect seamless loop which provides not only a quality visual but yields more strength and support. The final bodywork piece, the lower cowl, was crafted by a good friend and someone who always will be remember with his loss, Tom Petrovic by hand sculpted first from foam and then transfered to fiberglass and refined into what you see in the photos.

In looking to keep rolling weight to a minimum we opted for a quality set of shouldered aluminum rims laced up with Buchannan’s stainless steel spokes shod with a pair of Metzler rubbers ensure maximum grip on the pavement. On the front-end we compiled a myriad of parts from CB400F, CB450, CB750 and even a YZF 600 to achieve what we believe a stock dual disc setup should be represented as.

As for the engine, the heart of the machine, we chose the best parts available and went with a Yoshimura Black-box 466cc piston kit directly from Japan. We then worked with Kibbellwhite to manufacture valve train that would work in harmony with the Yoshi piston kit and custom Mega-Cycle CAM. The result, perfection at speed. As the Bostrom Brothers quoted, “It’s like a 2-stroke with a strong power band but the range of a 4-stroke.” As for the final sound, imagine a vintage Ferrari at Lemans rounding the first sharp corner and that’s a sampling of what this little track terror bellows from her custom exhaust. And to get power from the engine to the ground we used a set of Loaded Gun universal Cafe Racer rear-sets with our universal linkage kit. They afford quick shifting action and endless adjustability.

And last, but certainly not least, to keep the bike in sync with the corners and undulations on the straights we employed Progressive Suspensions new and at the time, never been installed on a vintage race bike, 970 model reservoir gas charged shock absorbers in combination with front internal coil springs. [They're actually marketed as for Harley Davidson's] Upon our initial test rides of the Four Hundred it was immediately recognized that the combination Progressive put together for us created a center-balanced and stunningly handling machine that could go from the road to the track without any concern.

The entire bike was safety wired to track specifications, the final paintwork was done by Bill Tribby with Liza doing the pin-striping for what we feel is a proper current day replica of what a factory works Honda 400F race bike would have been back in the mid-seventies."

Josh over at Wrench Works recently completed his killer 1977 Shovelhead project. After a crazy roll out to the midwest in a massive snowstorm last winter he picked up his donor project and made it back in one piece and slowly started to dismantle and revamp the bike you see here. His goal was to have a reliable daily rider and one that could still turn heads as a shop bike. We think he did it up just right as she fires up on one kick. Also, this build shows what should matter most of all, reliability, ride comfort and not a trailer queen. The way he tears around on this sweet shovel, we sure as hell know it exemplifies these notions.

Our pals over in the killer Denver punk outfit Reno Divorce are looking for your help. Kickstarter has proven to be a great place to help secure crowd sourced funding and they need a few bucks from each fan to make this happen. Recording is not cheap, nor is putting albums into production. For all of that you enjoy and believe in the music, it would be great of ya to send over a few bucks instead of just streaming it all for free. We are all guilty of this as we peruse for new music, so lets help to do our part and invest in whats going to be an amazing album.

"We are a punk/ rock and roll band based in Denver, CO. This year marks our ten year anniversary, and we want to commemorate it by releasing our best record to date. After years of touring the U.S. and Europe, and sharing the stage with practically all of our heros and influences, we’ve met some incredible people and made some of the most loyal fans in the world. Which brings us here to Kickstarter. Being an independent band is a double edged sword, but its rewards certainly outweigh the risk. Being in control of our artistic vision and not compromising our “image” or “sound” has always been a source of pride for us, but unfortunately, our pockets aren’t as deep as a major label’s. So thats why we are turning to you, our fans. You are the ones responsible for us going as long as we have and the reason we’ve kept our ideals intact. Your support over the years has enabled us to record our own records and retain the rights to our music and merchandise, which is a luxury we have never taken for granted and its your tenacity and fervor that have fueled us to keep recording and touring. You have really played a huge part in our journey so thank you for all you've done and please, if you can, support us with our latest project. We wouldn't ask if we didn't believe in it ourselves and we are confident that you’ll find this record to be the best one yet! We are also extremely excited that we will be able to give back to people who help contribute with Kickstater’s rewards. Until we meet again, peace and hair grease"

More info on Reno Divorce

With equal parts Orange County punk, honky tonk country, and rockabilly sensibilities, Reno Divorce strikes a unique chord of their own in a diluted genre of what passes as “Punk rock’n’roll”. Throw in well-crafted and deftly executed songs that straddle the line between Smithereens and and Social Distortion, and you’ve got a band that truly stands out amongst the herd. Oh, and there’s one more thing....this aint the boys’ first rodeo...they’ve played with almost all their punk hereos (ALL, Social D, TSOL, Adolescents, Agent Orange, Shattered Faith, X, The Blasters, Motorhead), and shared a tour bus with more contemporary heavy hitters, ala U.S. Bombs, The Bones, and Street Dogs. They’ve worked with the cream of the crop behind the scenes, as well. Their last record, “Tears Before Breakfast” was produced by Jason Livermore at the world famous Blasting Room and the support tours for that album were handled by M.A.D. Booking in Europe, where among other great festivals, they graced the Saturday Night Fever Stage at With FUll Force. Always captivating live, and wrought with more hooks than your uncle Bob’s tackle box, Reno Divorce has carved out a reputation as the real deal, a true “musician’s band” that pushes the envelope with every release, without sounding contrived or formulated. Brent Loveday’s deft songwriting and clever storytelling are brought to life by the band's flawless execution of no frills punk rock and roll. With Brent on lead guitar and vocals, Tim Jadowski on bass, Tye Battistella on Rhythm guitar, and Ruben Patino on the 1,2,3,4's, the band fires on all cylinders. Reno Divorce has earned honors in Kerrang, Metal Hammer, Loud Fast Rules, and (more importantly to the band) the respect of their peers.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

We have always been huge fans of metal and in particular thrash, speed and death metal genre's. It could be old Suffocation, Slayer, Overkill, Testament, Obituary, Morbid Angel or countless more, but those frothing vocals and fret board shearing screams just call upon us like that sacred bottle of Bourbon in the liquor cabinet. Dig into some of these blackened classics for the warpaint party you might be attending tonite.

If you are in northern California or Nevada, do yourself a favor and get a hotel room booked and get out to the 3rd Street Bar for the cd release party of Hellbound Glory's, Damaged Goods. Not only is this going to be an amazing night with a few special surprises its going also going to mark a turn in real country music. Those that name drop to help flesh out their flat NashVegas "hits" here is your new listening material to try to copy.

Check it, once again Boots Electric waxes poetic on the greatness, that they call home in the Yucca Valley of California. After watching this, do yourself a favor and dig into the Desert Sessions recordings. This can help to immerse that cerebral cotrext of yours into the soundscape of the desert heat and cool nights that envelop some of the music coming from this oasis.

"It’s Episode 6 of Marshall Headphones: On The Road, and the next stop is
Rancho de la Luna, the spiritual home of the desert rock scene. Rancho
is a recording studio where the likes of Arctic Monkeys, UNKLE and PJ
Harvey have come to try to recreate the spirit of the original desert
bands. After a jam session with his fellow Eagles of Death Metal man,
Dave Catchings, and his girlfriend, acclaimed adult film star Tuesday
Cross, Jesse persuades them to play a live show at a party in the
desert."

While thinking on another desert oasis, I remembered of a spot always dreamed of skating but never got the chance to and now its gone for good. Oh Nude Bowl, always wanted to ride your smooth walls in the desert night with Kyuss jammin' in the background...

The release of Hellbound Glory‘s newest album Damaged Goods
on November 15th symbolizes a big opportunity for independent country
to put its best foot forward in the form of one of the most cunning and
engaging songwriters country music boasts at any level.

Leroy Virgil is not a post-punk recovering metal head with neck
tattoos. He’s not a period piece with an anachronistic approach. He’s
not aping Waylon. He’s just a simple and honest guy with great songs who
even before the release of this album, is already making noise with
people outside of the predictable underground country music scenes with
the sheer power of the words to his songs. And now he has a project not
saddled with such a volume of salacious language, but without
sacrificing the authenticity and edge that made Hellbound Glory engaging
in the first place.

I talked to Leroy just before a show at The Dirty Dog Saloon in Austin, TX on Oct 21st about Damaged Goods, and the impact the different approach to the music might have.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Triggerman: You have a new album coming out in a couple of weeks called Damaged Goods. Why don’t you tell folks a little bit about it.

Leroy:
Well I think it’s our best work yet. I think it’s a little bit deeper
than the other records, a little bit more hardcore, but a bit more
understated. Obviously it’s not so much about drugs, but the people that
do drugs, the people that are in this scummy lifestyle that we live,
why they live that way, and what’s going to happen if they continue
living that way.

Triggerman: Chico the drummer is no longer in the
band. Some of the tracks have minimalist drums, and some have full
drums. What became the drumming approach when Chico left? Or did it kind
of work in your advantage to change the sound up, addition by
subtraction so to speak?

Leroy: Hated to see Chico go. We were able to turn
things down a little bit. I wanted to make something a little bit less
in-your-face. Love Chico but he was just sick of the road. Some of the
songs on the album I wanted to sound more like they do live, something
more quiet, more lyric-driven and instrument-driven. On the other albums
Chico’s just an animal. He’s a great drummer, but he’s a loud, powerful
drummer.

Triggerman: So what came first, was it Chico leaving
or a new approach? Because I know for a while you were talking about
doing a project called “The Excavators.”

Leroy: Basically The Excavators became Hellbound
Glory. The Excavators was something I was doing on the side back in Reno
just to stay working. I just wanted to be able to hire fewer musicians
and still be able to work. When Chico left the band, I knew it was going
to be hard to replace him with anyone else, so I set up a completely
different live show. The live show is basically Hellbound Glory, but
it’s also The Excavators, and my new band “The Damaged Good Ole Boys”
all in one.

Triggerman: In this new album there’s not the excessive drug references, but I remember you saying about Old Highs & New Lows,
that you had taken all of your songs that had drug references and
compiled them in that way, and I think maybe that was misleading to some
people.

Leroy: Absolutely. That album, some people might
think we’re a one trick pony. This album, there are songs about drugs,
but it’s just more a picture of Reno nightlife.

From Left, Leroy, Eric, Zeke, Frank

Triggerman: People may get the wrong impression
though if the first two things they take from the new album is that
Chico is gone, so there’s not the pounding drums, and also there’s not
as many drug references. Some people might think there’s no energy, or
that “they’ve changed” or whatever. But when you listen to Damaged Goods,
there’s still a lot of energy and bite to it. How did you keep that
energy while losing a great drummer, while taking tricks out of your bag
so to speak?

Leroy: We just bring it no matter what. We’re all
energetic people, we all live these songs. I just think the album is
more soulful more than anything. So hopefully people get a better chance
to listen to the lyrics.

Triggerman: As far as the new direction with the new
album, in the last couple of years, things have changed in your
personal life, you have a wife and kid now. I guess the old chiche is
you have a wife and kid and you start to settle down.

Leroy: I don’t have an option to settle down, this
is all I know to do, is to play music. And it’s fucking hard obviously,
the home life is difficult being away from my kid so much. But I think
having a kid has just made me more hardcore.

Triggerman: I’ve heard some other songs live that are not on this album. Do you have more material coming up?

Leroy: Yes. In fact I’ve got a new song I’m going to
play tonight called “Small Town Shit Going Down.” This next album is
going to be about small town life, that isn’t on TV, that isn’t being
covered by fucking Jason Aldean or Toby Keith. Because when I travel
around this country, and we’ve been traveling through the country the
last 6 months, playing shit towns and shit honky tonks where they have
to play rap music between our sets. And we go out and party with these
people, and their life isn’t being portrayed on CMT. I want to do
something that’s a little more real deal, gritty, down home.

Triggerman: What is your hope with this album? When
it comes to Hellbound Glory, there seems to be a consensus amongst
critics that it’s great stuff. But as you go from town to town, there
could probably be more people there. Hellbound Glory is a critic’s
favorite, but that doesn’t always translate to people at shows, or money
for your kid.

Leroy: Well I’m just going to keep slogging away at
it the only way I know how: work hard. This is the hardest way to make
easy money. I love what I do. I don’t get paid to play music, I get paid
to drive around with stinky bastards in a pickup truck.

As much as the World Police think they can stamp down on every country or faction and crush uprisings, ya can't kill western shoot'em up cultures influence. The world owes the United States a huge thank you for the bravado of characters such as John Wayne, Sonny Barger, Clint Eastwood and many more. Their sphere of influence has done more internationally and at home than foreign policy could ever hope to do. This goes out to anyone that surfs a motorcycle and can fire pistols at the same time, man up fellas.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The fellas over at Dime City Cycles had a photo shoot recently and really took some great shots of some of our merch. Along with these designs we have a few more upcoming for winter along with all of the band gear. Stay tuned for all sorts of holiday specials coming up along with another new record hitting our shelves around Thanksgiving, here is a hint, think Ramones, Antiseen and Flat Tires...

We would like to thank the fine publication of Popular Science for being in existence and for growing up reading their sister magazine, Popular Mechanics. Between those two magazines, they have been a well of inspiration unlike any other, well besides Thrasher. We would love to lay claim to a few music and motorcycle mags, but they tend to drift with the tides and none have had as lasting an impact on us as the aforementioned periodicals.

These type of magazines have a solid voice and carry through for generations as they are focused on a plethora of topics but always reign in their subject matter. For example, just found this article over on Popular Science about the History of Recorded Music. If yall have any interest in technology mixed with popular culture, you couldn't pick a better topic to research. As technology morphs and changes certain aspects of life are always at the forefront. Music is continually pushing technology as it is a universal language and one in which the creators and listeners are actively evolving together.

Music to us comes in many forms. Whether it be a the beautiful cacophany of a well tuned v-twin that is hummin' along at 85 mph or a raspy guitar with other worldly screams coming out of an Orange amp, we are fully engulfed in the moment. Read on below about how one great man by the name of Thomas Edison set in a motion a chain of events to which the world has been forever changed.

When Thomas Edison was only 31 years old, Popular Science profiled him, getting a look inside his shop and talking to him about the best writers of the age. The article cites the carbon telephone and the phonograph as the best of his many inventions, not knowing, of course, that records would one day become ubiquitous before being replaced by CDs, then MP3 players, only to make a comeback among audiophiles.

The phonograph was invented largely by accident, as so many good things are. Edison was tinkering with an automatic transmitter for Morse Code when he realized that the vibration from spoken word could make a needle make an indentation on paper, and an even better one on tinfoil. Then, when the grooves were run under the needle again, his words were spoken back to him and the recording was born.

Thank Thomas Edison for Recorded Music

Talking Cellulose Thread: December 1922

We can hardly imagine being excited to receive a ball of string in the mail (except, perhaps, for the cats among us), but there was a time when we thought that was the future of correspondence. A device created by a Swiss inventor could record sound patterns on a cellulose thread using a sapphire stylus that could then be listened to using a reproduction machine. When recorded, the thread was small enough to coil up and mail in a standard envelope.

The article says that the machines were implemented in a few business offices, where we imagine the secretaries got rather tangled up.

Human voice is first recorded

Home Recording of Radio Programs: February 1931

The dawn of the ability to record The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to
listen to over and over again must have been a boon to techies and
Arthur Conan Doyle fans alike. In the early 1930s, pre-grooved records
eliminated the need for the complicated machine used to guide the needle
in recording studios and made it possible to record radio programs,
such as Sherlock, and personal messages with the purchase of a recording
needle and a microphone.

First Phonograph was created in August 1878

The Camera of Sound: January 1946

During World War II, magnetic wire recorders were used to transmit and store vital information. But once the troops came home, the tool found itself a place among civilians as a way to record family memories, monologues or music off the radio. The recorder is filled with nearly two miles of re-recordable fine steel wire and a magnet. PopSci reminds users to rewind before playing back the recording, or else it plays backwards and "sounds like Donald Duck."

Wireless Record Players: March 1946

For those audiophiles whose crystal clear radios had spoiled them for the "tinny sound" of their old phonographs, PopSci offered a solution. By installing a one-tube oscillator in the record player, it became a miniature broadcasting station that could beam music to radios around the house, as long as they were tuned properly. The article goes on to explain how to walk that fine line between making the broadcast strong enough to be picked up by radios, while not being so strong as to get you in trouble with the FCC.

The Two Types of Continuous Strip Recorders: April 1947

The ability to record and play back sound was a boon not just to America in wartime but to parents who wanted to record the cute things their children said, and slow note-taking journalists everywhere. By 1947, you had two options: the recorder that made magnetic impressions on wire or metal-coated paper, or the kind that embossed marks onto film. Putting magnetic material on film made for cheaper recordings, but the film was far less durable than metal wire and harder to edit. PopSci looks at the history of the magnetic recorder, weighs the pros and cons of the different types, and imagines a future where such machines are portable.

Hi-Fi, Explained: March 1957

In the early 1950s, being an audiophile made you eccentric, not a hipster. But then high fidelity equipment blew up and became popular for its ability to make the listener feel like they were hearing the music live. While the typical hi-fi set up only truly required a record player, loudspeaker, tuner and amplifier, the obsession with perfecting the sound quality led one man to tweak his system to the tune of 22 additional speakers, after which he still wasn't quite satisfied. The way to tell if the system is perfect? If it can play an ungrooved, unrecorded disk in complete silence without producing any buzzing or humming.

The First In-Car Disc Player: October 1963

The luxury of bringing our music with us wherever we go is something we take for granted these days, often forgetting even the hardships of portable CD players that we wrestled with just over a decade ago. In 1963, PopSci showed readers how to install an in-car record changer that could play up to 14 standard-size, 45 RPM records. Bringing delicate records on car trips along pothole-ridden roads sounds like a recipe for disaster, but according to the article, the device plays without skipping on "moderately bumpy roads" as well as when the car rounds a corner or comes to a stop.

PopSci Tests Your Home Record Player: February 1968

Even the most finicky of ears can have trouble adjusting a hi-fi system to perfection. That's where we stepped in, with our test record full of laboratory-recorded test tones designed to pick up on any flaws in channel balance and sample music pieces that try the limits of a system. And after tweaking their system until it was flawless, lovably pretentious music nerds could use the test record to demonstrate just how awesome their setup was to all their party guests.

Demystifying Tape Systems: Februrary 1969

We got the scoop straight from major tape companies on the pros and cons of five different tape systems: reel-to-reel, cassette, eight-track, four-track and playtape. In 1969, the four-track was already on its way out, with half the playing time and far fewer features than the eight-track. Reel-to-reel systems were also slipping, thanks to the greater convenience of cassette and cartridge systems, and we dismissed playtapes as being for teenagers or children's recordings. That left eight-tracks and cassettes, each with advantages and disadvantages, as top dogs.

The Dawn of the Compact Disc: November 1983

CD players deliver hi-fi without needing the calibrating help of a PopSci test record, completely free of pops or hisses. And the laser beam ensures that the discs never wear out, the way LPs do. We proclaimed the development of CDs to be "the most radical change in record technology since Thomas Edison demonstrated his tinfoil cylinder recordings." At the time of publication, CD players were still too pricey for the average Joe, but costs were already starting to drop (you could get one for less than $600 at Sears).

Sony Mini Disc: August 1991

With records, cassette tapes and CDs all incompatible, Sony decided that what the people needed most was another form of recorded music. With portability in mind, they set about designing the Mini Disc system, which was supposed to have more compressed audio (pros: smaller discs, cons: lower quality), as well as the ability to be jostled without skipping - you could take it on a jog, perhaps. The advantage of choosing to compress the songs rather than develop a new recording technology was that companies would be able to use the same recording equipment they already had to produce the Mini Discs. The discs would also be erasable and re-recordable.

The Gamechanger: January 2002

The first iPod of Apple's dynasty could hold up to 1,000 songs (about 80 CDs worth of music) in its 5 GB of storage. We're used to our teensy iPods now, but the venerable grandpappy wasn't exactly pocket-sized, unless you were wearing cargo pants. It was about 2.5 by 4 inches, weighed 6.5 ounces and had a battery life of around 10 hours.

Full Circle - Ripping Records to an iPod: November 2005

Everything old always becomes new again, and recorded music is no exception. When CDs were invented, we praised the superiority of their sound quality to records. But as things became more digitized, vinyl became romanticized, and the natural solution was to rip tracks from records and put them on an iPod. And who better to do the job than a hacker? A DIY-er known only as Mister Jalopy showed PopSci the device he built that automatically transfers songs from a played record to his iPod Mini.